Bulldogs Host Bison to Open 2008-09 Home Schedule

New Haven, Conn. - The Yale women's basketball team opens up its home slate against the Bucknell Bison at the John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The game will be the first of 12 home contests in the 2008-09 season. All spectators aged 14 and younger will receive a free autographed poster of the women's basketball team.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs opened the 2008-09 season with a 65-63 victory at Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon. The win was the first season-opening victory for Yale since the 2000-01 campaign. Junior Melissa Colborne scored 14 points and sophomore Mady Gobrecht hauled down a game-high 11 rebounds and led the Bulldogs with four assists. Freshman Brianna Segerson netted nine points in her collegiate debut.

IN HOME OPENERS
Yale has lost its last five home openers, dating back to the 2002-03 campaign. The Bulldogs defeated Lafayette 74-49 to kick off their Lee Amphitheater slate in that season.

SERIES HISTORY
Yale leads the all-time series with Bucknell, 2-1. The teams last met in the 1997-98 season, with Yale winning by a score of 62-43. That meeting was the only time that the Bulldogs and Bison have ever squared off in New Haven.

SCOUTING THE BISON
Selected to finish fifth in the Patriot League in the preseason poll, the Bucknell Bison opened the 2008-09 season with a 62-51 road victory over non-conference foe George Mason. Senior Amanda Brown scored 22 points, and sophomore Cosima Higham set a career high with 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Bison. Bucknell, which went 16-16 overall and 8-6 in the Patriot League last season en route to winning the league's postseason tournament, has since lost the tournament Most Valuable Player as well as four other seniors.

A FAMILIAR FACE ON THE BUCKNELL BENCH
Despite making their first trip to New Haven in 11 years, the visiting Bison will have no trouble navigating the corridors of Payne Whitney Gymnasium on Tuesday night. Bucknell Assistant Coach Stephanie Marciano is very familiar with the John J. Lee Amphitheater. Marciano was the captain of the 2007-08 Bulldogs, garnering over 500 points and 300 assists in her four-year career.

SCHEDULE STRENGTH
Bucknell marks the first of three 2008-09 Yale opponents that participated in last season's NCAA Tournament. Ivy League foe Cornell and the University of Minnesota, who the Bulldogs may meet in the Subway Classic this weekend, also went to the Big Dance in 2007-08. Additionally, Division I newcomer Bryant, who will visit the Elm City on Jan. 13, played in the Division II NCAA Tournament last season.

THE JOEL E. SMILOW, CLASS OF 1954 HEAD COACH OF WOMEN'S BASKETBALLChris Gobrecht, now in her 29th season as a Division I head coach, has amassed a career 450-369 (.549) record, ranking her 31st among active coaches in career victories. The ninth coach in the 36-year history of Yale women's basketball, Gobrecht has more career victories than any other active basketball coach (men's or women's) in the Ivy League. In her tenure at Yale, she has he has coached an Ivy League Rookie of the Year (Melissa Colborne, 2006-07) and two first team All-Ivy players (Colborne, 2007-08 and Erica Davis, 2006-07). Prior to Gobrecht's arrival in the Elm City, a Bulldog player had not earned first team accolades since the 1997-98 campaign. In her third season at Yale, Gobrecht led the Bulldogs to a 7-7 record in the Ivy League, their best conference record since 2001-02. Despite a non-conference schedule that included eventual National Finalist Stanford, as well as NCAA Tournament participants Arizona State and Marist, the Bulldogs posted nine wins, the team's second-highest victory total in the last six seasons.

HOMETOWN HEROINE TURNED HALL OF FAMER
After piling up 517 career coaching victories at St. Francis (N.Y.) and Fairfield, Yale Assistant Coach Dianne Nolan was recently one of 14 inductees enshrined into the Camden County (N.J.) Sports Hall of Fame. Nolan's ties to Camden County athletics begin at Gloucester Catholic High School. A 1969 graduate of the school, Nolan was a three-sport athlete. She played basketball under the coaching of her mother, Bert Nolan, a fellow Camden County Sports Hall of Famer. Nolan was recognized five times as the MAAC Coach of the Year, taking the honors in 1983, 1984, 1990, 1998 and 2000. She was named the MBWA Coach of the Year in 2001 and earned New England Coach of the Year honors in 1984.

LEARNING FROM THE BEST
Bucknell Head Coach Kathy Fedorjaka, now in her 12th season with the Bison, played collegiate basketball at Fairfield University for Coach Nolan from 1986 to 1990. Fedorjaka is the winningest coach in Bucknell women's basketball history at 174-146. Quinnipiac Head Coach Tricia Fabbri also played at Fairfield under the guidance of Coach Nolan. The Bulldogs and Bobcats will square off on Dec. 21.

THE VOTES ARE IN
In the Ivy League Preseason Poll, the Bulldogs were selected to repeat their 2007-08 fourth place finish. After winning the Ivy League title outright in 2006-07 and sharing the crown in 2007-08, the Harvard Crimson have once again been tabbed to win the Ivy in 2008-09, as voted on by the media and women's basketball sports information directors of the Ancient Eight. Harvard notched 128 total points and 10 of 17 first place votes Dartmouth, who along with Harvard and Cornell shared the Ivy title at 11-3 last season, was slotted to place second with 117 points and four first place votes. Big Red received the other three first place votes and 94 points overall to land in third place. Cornell will have an upward climb to stay on par with the other 2007-08 co-champions of the Ivy League, as Ivy League Player of the Year Jeomi Maduka has left the program to pursue track and field. The Bulldogs are the first team behind the trio of 2007-08 champions in the poll, garnering 83 points. The preseason poll is rounded out by Columbia (74 points), Penn (52), Princeton (46) and Brown (18).

YALE ALL-ACCESS
Once again in 2008-09, Bulldogs' fans can watch every home game from the John J. Lee Amphitheater live and for free via the new "Yale All-Access" package. All Yale All-Access content will also be archived on www.yalebulldogs.com. The webcasts include audio commentary by WYBC, Yale's student radio station. To access the feed, simply click on the "Yale All-Access" logo in the upper right corner of the Yale Athletics home page, or the "watch" link on the schedule. Viewers will need to create an account by entering a username and password.

TAKING HOME THE HARDWARE
Junior Melissa Colborne led the team and finished second in the Ancient Eight in scoring with 15.7 points per game en route to earning first team All-Ivy laurels. The Calgary, Alberta native also placed fourth in the Ivy League in both field goal percentage (.474) and free throw percentage (.788). Colborne was previously honored as the Ivy League Rookie of the Year as a freshman.

CAPTAIN'S CORNER
Senior guard Jamie Van Horne has been selected as team captain for the 2008-09 season. Van Horne finished second on the team with 9.1 points per game and fourth with 1.5 assists per contest last season. She placed second in the Ivy League with 59 three-pointers, and sank at least one three-pointer in 20 games, draining at least five treys four times. "I am honored that my teammates have chosen me to be captain," Van Horne said of her new position. "I am excited for next year and will work hard to help this team be the best it can be. Stephanie [Marciano] is a hard act to follow [as captain] in her ability to motivate and lead, but she was a good teacher. This team has a lot of potential, and it will be fun to see how successful we will be."

FRESHMAN PHENOM
Forward Lindsey Williams was one of three unanimous selections to the 2007-08 Ivy League All-Rookie Team. Williams led the Bulldogs and placed fifth in the Ivy League with 6.6 rebounds per game, and finished third on the team in scoring with 8.6 points per game.

CROSSING THE ATLANTIC
Freshman Verena Lehner, a native of Gmunden, Austria, is the first European-born player in Yale women's basketball history. She is only the third foreign-born player in program history. Teammate Melissa Colborne (Calgary, Alberta) and Lissie Detres `93 (Mayaguez, Puerto Rico) are the only other players to hail from outside of the 50 states. Lehner netted 24 points against the Bulldogs during the team's trip to Germany in the summer of 2007.

NEWS FROM DOWNTOWN
After knocking down one three-point field goal at Holy Cross, Senior Jamie Van Horne has now connected on 154 career triples, slotting her just 10 behind Yale's all-time leader, Tory Mauseth `05. Van Horne sank 59 three-pointers in 2007-08, the second highest single-season total in Bulldogs' history. The single-season mark at Yale belongs to Maria Smear `03, who sank 62 treys in the 2000-01 season.

THE CLASS OF 2012
Forwards Michelle Cashen and Verena Lehner and guard Brianna Segerson comprise the Bulldogs' freshman contingent in 2008-09. Cashen attended Midwood High School in Belle Harbor, N.Y., where she was named team MVP in her junior and senior seasons. Lehner, a native of Austria, attended the Pomfret School in Pomfret, Conn. as a senior. In her lone season at the Pomfret School, she was an all-league player as well as her team MVP in both basketball and volleyball Segerson, a graduate of Walsh Jesuit in Fairlawn, Ohio, earned all-state honors as a senior. She holds schools records in career assists and steals, and ranks fourth all time in scoring.

TWO-SPORT STAR
Junior guard Allie Canulli has added basketball to her busy schedule as starting third baseman for the Bulldogs' softball team. Canulli, who holds the Illinois high school record for sinking the most consecutive three-pointers in a game with eight, hit .236 with two home runs and 16 runs batted in on the diamond last spring.

LILLEMOE BACK IN ACTION
Senior guard Kaitlyn Lillemoe, who missed the entire 2007-08 season with an ankle injury, is slated to return to the Bulldogs' lineup this season. As a sophomore, Lillemoe came off the bench in all 28 of the team's games, averaging 2.7 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.

MAKING THE ROUNDS
Including possible opponents, Yale's 14 non-conference games could feature as many as eight different conferences (America East, Atlantic 10, Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Northeast, Patriot, Southeastern and West Coast) as well as two independents (New Jersey Institute of Technology and Bryant). The Bulldogs' non-conference slate consists of two teams to which they have never lost (St. Bonaventure, Long Island) and three teams that they have never beaten (New Hampshire, North Carolina State, American). Kentucky, California-Irvine, California-Riverside, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Bryant and possible opponent Minnesota will all be first-time meetings.

EVERY DAY IS MOTHER'S DAY
Sophomore forward Mady Gobrecht is the daughter of head coach Chris Gobrecht. They are one of two active mother-daughter, coach-player tandems in Division I women's basketball (Southern Mississippi: Coach Joye Lee-McNelis and Whitney McNelis). This is the sixth time in Yale's 156-year athletic history that a head coach is mentoring his or her child in a varsity sport, and the first where the combo is mother-daughter (men's fencing: Robert & Maurice Grasson, 1936-38; baseball: Smoky Joe & Joseph Wood, 1939-41; men's basketball: Howard & David Hobson, 1952-55; men's squash: John & Jack Skillman, 1954-55; football: Jordan & Harry Olivar, 1957-59).

`TWAS FOUR NIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
The holiday season descends upon the John J. Lee Amphitheater on Saturday, Dec. 21 as the Bulldogs host in-state rival Quinnipiac in a 1 p.m. contest. The 2008 "Christmas Clash" will feature candy canes, Christmas music and a visit from Santa Claus. Other events planned for the 200-09 campaign include Yale Employee Night on Jan. 16 and Youth Day on Jan. 31. Feb. 7 will host two promotions, the WBCA "Pack the House" challenge and National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

A TWIN BILL IN THE TWIN CITIES
The Bulldogs are back in action this weekend for the Subway Classic, hosted by the University of Minnesota. Yale challenges North Carolina State on Nov. 22 at 12 p.m. (ET) and wraps up the event against either American University or host Minnesota on Nov. 23 (game time TBA).